


Stories For Sunshine

by joufancyhuh



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, background Fenris/MHawke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-02 10:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14542386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joufancyhuh/pseuds/joufancyhuh
Summary: Varric comes by for his weekly visit to the Circle.





	Stories For Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyNorbert](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNorbert/gifts).



> We said this would happen, that I would get LadyNorbert. I hope you enjoy my paltry writings. Thank you for getting me into this beautiful ship. 
> 
> Thanks to MizDirected for betaing.

“I never know what my brother has gotten himself into. Whenever I ask, he shrugs and gives me some nonchalant answer.” Bethany glances up to Varric from her position on the bottom step where the two hide themselves in one of the side alleys of the Gallows. Templars who pass spare curious glances, the frequency of their strolls past the alley a bit too high. 

Varric stares back at them when they wander by, a challenge in his eyes for them to say something, attempt to roust them from their spot on the private steps. He knows their curiosity comes from the association with Hawke, perhaps fearing a coup or prison break to steal back his  younger sister.

But Varric’s interests are selfish, these small chats with his Sunshine the highlight of his week, here in their private world, carved out only for them on the small steps in the Gallows. He chuckles, taking his reading glasses out of his jacket pocket and unfolding them to place on his face. “Good thing you have me then, Sunshine.” He unfurls the newest chapters of his untitled manuscript, smoothing down the pages before opening it to his red cloth bookmark. “Now, where were we?”

“You were telling me about killing Danarius’ apprentice.”

The corners of his lips quirk up into a grin, a mischievous twinkle entering into his gaze as he observes her reaction to his following words, a tease at her expense. “Are you certain you want to know what comes next? It gets quite … graphic.”

“You’ve never spared me from the bloody details before, Varric. Why now?” She cocks her head to the side, blue eyes like a cloudless sky, so reminiscent of her brothers but filled with a kind innocence the city has yet to taint. The Hawke siblings may have similar features, and even share in the way they bring color to the grey that plagues his beloved city, but Bethany remains completely her own. Sun is the only comparison that even comes close.

“Not blood, this time, though there’s always more of that to come, knowing your brother. No, this section gets pretty intense in other ways.” 

A rouge tints her cheeks as his inference dawns on her, lips parting slightly as the soft sound of her gasp passed between them. “What? My brother and someone? That bastard! He never told me he was seeing someone! Who is it? Tell me!” She reaches for Varric’s lapel, but stopped short from grabbing ahold and shaking him. 

“Calm down, Sunshine, or you might invite the templars over.”

She leans forward, hands balled into the robes on her knees. “Tell me,” she whines, batting her eyelashes at him. “Is it someone I know? Did Mother finally set him up with someone? I know she was pestering him about that.” 

Varric shakes his head, a lighthearted smile on his face, her excitement and curiosity no end to his own amusement. “You know him, alright.”

“A him!” Her hands break their hold on her robes to clap. “Who? Don’t tease me like this!” 

“But it’s fun to tease you, Sunshine,” he grins, which earns him a playful shove.

“Hands off, you two,” one of the roaming templars bark; both shoot the templar a glare, but Bethany falls back to her corner of the step, hands placed into her lap in obedience. Varric doesn’t want to make trouble for her, he knows how cruel the Circle can be, so he contains his reaction to a scowl, maintaining a death stare with the blonde templar.

“Leave it, Varric.” There’s a gentle pleading in Bethany’s voice, and he knows she’ll get the brunt of any trouble he causes. With reluctance, he tears his eyes away from the templar and back to his Sunshine, whose gaze holds storm clouds. “It’s not worth it.”

“Only for you, Sunshine.” Varric forces a smile, his mind searching for where their conversation left off. He finds it easily enough, and brings them back to the subject with a quick, “I’ll spoil the build-up if I simply tell you who it is.” 

She chews the corner of her bottom lip as she debates which choice she prefers, the fake expression on his face replacing itself with a genuine one as he observes this internal argument. With slight hesitation, she says, “Then read it.” 

Varric licks his finger and turns to the page where the two left off, reading his prose as the scene begins, the mansion in Hightown all but deserted as Garrett Hawke shoves his way into the estate. 

A soft gasp draws Varric’s attention away from the page before he can go any further, Bethany’s jaw slack as she stares in disbelief. “It’s Fenris? My brother and Fenris? But … I thought … don’t they hate each other?” She pauses, her brow wrinkling as she scrunches her nose. “You’re teasing me again. That’s not really what you wrote, is it?”

Varric shrugged, offering her the manuscript. “You can see for yourself.”

When she stills, eyes on the book like that of a poisonous snake, he chuckles at her surprise. He adores this innocent side of her, wonders how conceivable what he wrote to follow the death of Hadriana will be for her, if it breaks the believability of the reader for what he assumes came next. Something happened in that manor Fenris hid himself in, he knows this much, given the shifting dynamic between the two men. Varric’s a storyteller; he can spot the tension between them from across the room, and his mind fills in the blanks in the most colorful ways. 

If Hawke wanted Bethany to know the truth, not Varric’s penned version, he would stop cowering away from what he saw as a failure with his sister and come visit her once in awhile, or even write a letter. But the responsibility falls to Varric, and the dwarf does enjoy a good show. Bethany, too, given her eagerness for him to read his manuscript. 

“Keep going,” she says, shaking her head as Varric brings the book back into his lap. “What happens next?” 

By the time Varric finishes telling her about how Fenris threw her brother against the wall for a rather angry sex scene, he noted how a few templars gathered nearby, far enough to not be a bother, but close to hear. “What happens next?” the blonde templar from earlier asks when Varric stops and closes his book.

“That’s up to Hawke,” Varric says, folding his glasses to place in his pocket.

Bethany grins and takes his hand; no one objects this time, though they begin to meander away, cheeks redder than before. “Well, that was certainly bracing. Perhaps something I didn’t need to know about my brother.” She gives it a pat and stands, groaning as she stretches her legs. “I always love your visits. You write the best stories.” 

Varric smiles. “Maybe one day I’ll write a story about you, Sunshine.”

She gives a small shake of her head, an embarrassed grin on her face. “Oh no, not me. I think I’m fine without my brother’s adventures.” 

“Suit yourself.” Varric stands. She takes his arm while escorting him to the edge of the Gallows. 

“Same time next week?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” 

She kisses his cheek, a flutter in his chest at the gesture. “Take care of yourself, Varric.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I know the timeline for Fenhawke is wrong. Shhh...
> 
> Also you can't convince me that Varric didn't visit Bethany every week with an update on her brother, or that Varric didn't also run the story by her first. 
> 
> I like to think the blonde templar is Cullen.


End file.
